Phinneas
Childhood Phinneas Bassenthwaite was raised in Westfall by a middle class family who'd owned land in the area and were friendly to the nearby humans. His father was a paladin and from an early age, he was taught the ways of the sword and the Light. His mother, a quiet and often sickly woman, held no profession other than that of wife and mother though she spent much of her time walking in Elwynn or further afield, collecting wild flowers and herbs and making a variety of potions and ointments. Phin, as he is often called, was the middle child. His older brother Declann was the apple of his father's eye, not to mention the spitting image of him. Both were tall and slim with blond hair. Both had a natural propensity for channelling the Light. Phinneas, however, was his mother's pride and joy. He was sensitive and much more in tune with nature, constantly covered in mud and dirt, and often tending to sick or injured animals. He found, with his mother, a kindred spirit, who indulged him when he brought home a new pet and patted her husband's arm to stop him protesting when young Phinneas brought home a white lion cub abandoned by its mother. Soon enough, his younger sister, Kiandra, was born. Another tall, slim blond, it was of no surprise to anyone when she showed interest in becoming a priest at a very young age. However, it was at this time that Phinneas's mother died from a simple chest infection that eventually wasted the last of her already frail health away. Devastated by the death of the one person he thought understood him best, Phinneas took to spending more and more time in the forests and when he did return to his family's estate, he often would spend his time in the stables, rather than the house. Phinneas's father had all but given up on the boy. While he knew the child was intelligent, any sort of formal education of the use of the Light fell on deaf ears. Phinneas himself tried diligently to practice wielding the heavy plate armor and long swords that his father and brother used but in the end would give up and wander off into the woods in a teenager-y huff. As he grew more distant from the boy, Phinneas's father decided on a whim to take him and his brother to Silvermoon City during the Midsummer Fire Festival. It was there he first saw Alaine Kenal'thei. Adolescence The first time Phinneas saw Alaine he was in awe of him. The flame-haired man because somewhat of an obsession of his and he tried to mimic him in almost every way. That day in Silvermoon, he'd spied the man across the Royal Exchange smiling widely as he watched one of the flame keepers dance. Beside him was a black lion and nearby, discarded for the moment was a bow. He was a hunter. Phin, of course, knew of the profession but as the son of a paladin, he'd naturally been advised that a hunter was simply another name for a dense, homeless person who preferred the company of animals to people and no Bassenthwaite boy was going to be that. But looking at Alaine that day and the next passing week or so that he followed him around Silvermoon during the festival, he had decided what his calling was. It was to be a Hunter and more importantly, a student of Alaine. His father was surprisingly happy that the boy had found something to strive for as he had become incresasingly unfocused since his mother's death. Excited about his errant son's choice of a profession, he immediately hired a well-known tracker to train Phinneas. The boy was unhappy about this as it was not his chosen teacher (who didn't even know he existed yet) and was often a difficult student. However, the difficulty was only found in his laxity of respect for the man; his ability as a hunter was clearly present and he excelled quickly in his studies showing a propensity for his ability to easily train exotic animals. And when his mentor suggested he move to Thunderbluff to better study the earth magic of the Druids and Shamans there, he eagerly agreed but only as he believed it would bring him closer to Alaine. Through his adolescence this 'obsession' with Alaine continued, often exhibiting itself in the young man 'training' his tracking by tracking Alaine through forests. His father and mentor said nothing of Phin's interest in the man other than the fact that it could only help Phinneas striving to be so like another good hunter. Of course, by this time, Phinneas had realized that the obsession was more aptly called unrequited love and he was often seen looking a bit forlorn during this time when he'd tracked the man to some secret place in the forests where he was having intimate moments with some woman. It was during this time that Phinneas had a string of unsuccessful relationships and flings and broke many hearts and was slapped more than his fair share of times. Young Adulthood At this time, Phinneas had taken to living in the mountains in the Barrens, preferring a teepee to bricks and mortar and, as his father had warned, had started preferring the company of animals to people. Losing his father to the Scourge attack on Silvermoon and his brother to the Lich King's control, he started to increasingly despair at the plight of the inhabitants of Silvermoon and Azeroth in general. During this time, he made friends and was even adopted as a brother by Sahare Cloudfeather, a Tauren Druid who gave him the name Towapajo. He found spending time with her and among the down-to-earth Taurens of Thunderbluff a needed rest away from what he sees as a superficial, shallow city of superficial, shallow inhabitants (speaking of Silvermoon and Blood Elves). By this time in his life, the obsession with Alaine had turned into a painful sore he could not heal. Terrified of rejection, he never approached the man and actually was more often found condemning the man's name than dreamily sighing it as he did so often in his younger days. It was during this time that a group of his friends sarcastically formed the 'Alaine Fan Club' dubbing Phinneas as 'Alaine's #1 Fanboy' and president of said fan club. In a string of boyish pranks, the boys wrote letters to the man in Phinneas's name and it was these letters that eventually led to the two finally meeting. His first meetings with Alaine were mixed with awe, fear, and strangely enough, disillusion on Phin's part. As he got to know the man in a very down-to-earth way, he stopped being a beautiful dream, too perfect to be changed and became the Alaine that Phin actually fell in love with. Not to say they immediately hit it off. Alaine, concerned for his reputation of 'Ladies' Man, Man's Man, and Man About Town' did not want it to be known that by 'Man's Man', he meant sexually attracted to men. A constant source of grief, even to the present, Phinneas has always been perfectly open about his sexuality and could not understand Alaine's reluctance to be open himself. However, despite completely different personalities, struggling with being 'in' or 'out', and constant threats on the House they both belong to, the two have found in each other, someone they can be at home with and rely on completely. No longer seeing Alaine as a god has planted Phin's feet on the ground and got his head out of the clouds. And acting as step-father to Alaine's sons, Bexley and Aydhen, has brought out the family man in Phin. Current Recently, Phin has found out that the man who raised him is not his actual father and that his mother was unfaithful, the result being, himself. He now uses his actual father's surname, Nightsinger. This evidence of his mother's infidelity has given him doubts about his own ability to stay faithful in his upcoming nuptials with Alaine. Random Info Phin is friendly. With everyone. Even those he doesn't like. He smiles often and will talk to anyone. He prefers the outdoors like most hunters but loves the hustle and bustle of cities and the feel of so many people around him. He is saddest when he is alone and even then, has a myriad of pets to keep him company so in actuality, he is rarely sad. He is uncomfortable in places where the dead out-number the living and has had some rather traumatic visits to Icecrown which he keeps to himself. He loves cooking and fishing and takes every opportunity to do so. He wears a ring from Alaine and several feathers braided into his hair.